originally posted in:Otiskin
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Please stick around to read the wall of text.
Imagine a world where every person had a number value floating above them, attached to their persona. It doesn't have to be a physical object, just a value that everybody can see. This value is calculated based on a combination of your skills, talents and qualities. Everything would be accounted for, and the calculation is somehow perfect. Call this a 'rating', if you will. The higher the number, the 'better' the general quality of the person, everything taken into account. For kids still maturing, this value would be adjusted to be somewhat based on potential as well.
Now, for the questions.
How high do you think your number would be?
How do you imagine this would affect the way people treat each other?
How do you think it would change how people choose their partners?
Would this be a blessing or a horrible, horrible thing?
I'd like your opinions and any sort of inputs from you guys. This is just something I thought about one evening.
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It would give humans a way of judging others at a first glance. It would cause separation amongst the entire human populace. Your number would become the only way to be socially acceptable. It would create fissures and cracks that spread throughout the entirety of human society. Segregation would be more prevalent than ever. War would erupt as people try to deny the number and turn against the segregation. They try to deny that something, somewhere knows what they are capable of and what they will become. The ultimate destruction of humanity would be caused by a number that determined your fate before you could determine it yourself. This is the ultimate fear of the human psyche. You are not an individual, you are a piece in a game where your actions, decisions, and intentions are all predetermined by something more powerful and beyond your control. To never have the freedom of choice is to never live.